1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to stabilized alkylene oxide adducts and sulfates thereof, and to liquid detergent compositions containing the adducts or the sulfates. More particularly, this invention relates to stabilized alkylene oxide adducts of hydroxyl group-containing organic compounds and sulfates thereof emitting no odor and experiencing very little degradation of quality by aging and to liquid detergent compositions containing the adducts or the sulfates.
2. Description of Prior Art
Generally, alkylene oxide adducts of hydroxyl group-containing organic compounds such as alcohols and phenols and sulfates thereof are utilized as surface active agents in a wide variety of fields. They have found utility in the following applications, for example.
(1) Textiles:
Scouring agents for polyester, cotton and raw wool, wetting agents, dyeing auxiliaries, fiber beaching agents, finishing agents, antistatic agents, fiber oiling agents, and emulsification of dye carrier.
(2) Paper and pulp:
Wetting agents, fininshing agents, chalk-removing agents, breaching agents, deresinating agents, and sizing agents.
(3) Metals:
Degreasing detergents, destaining and rustproofing agents, mechanical working and lubricating agetns, plating agents, quenching and tempering agents, and permeating liquids for flaw detection.
(4) Agriculture and forestry:
Emulsifiers and extenders for agricultrural pesticides and various detergents.
(5) Leather:
Chromic acid tanning agents, dyes, and finishing agents.
(6) Cleaners:
Industrial detergents, liquid detergents for household use, powdery detergents for household use, residential detergents, detergents for laundry, and detergents for automobiles.
(7) Cosmetics:
Ointments, emulsifiers, and shampoos.
(8) Others:
Dustproofing agents, agents for treating leaking oil, and oil separators.
Heretofore, the alkylene oxide adducts mentioned above have been produced by causing alkylene oxides to react upon hydroxyl group-containing organic compounds such as alcohols and phenols in the presence of alkali catalysts such as sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, and sodium alkoxides or acid catalysts such as boron trifluoride, boron trifluoride complexes, antimony pentacholoride, tin tetrachloride, phosphoric acid, acetic acid, sulfuric acid, and citric acid (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,030,426 and 2,983,763).
The alkylene oxide adducts of hydroxyl group-containing organic compounds obtained by a method of this kind, however, contain not merely unaltered hydroxyl group-containing organic compounds but also catalysts, aldehydes, free acids, peroxides, and other impurities responsible for emission of odor and discoloration, though in small amounts. The alkylene oxide adducts containing these impurities are purified by neutralization with acids or alkalis, washing with aqueous alkali solutions, distillation, reduction, adsorption, or filtration. The alkali catalysts are generally neutralized with such a neutralizing agent as a mineral acid such as sulfuric acid or phosphoric acid or acetic acid. The alkylene oxide adducts obtained as obtained above contain other impurities which are responsible for emission of odor. They, therefore, have the disadvantage that they will start emitting odor after elapse of a certain time. Particularly in recent years, the general trend of consumer demands toward increasingly high grades of household detergents has been urging liberation of the raw materials for detergents from causes for odor. The effort to sulfonate the alkylene oxide adducts degraded by aging with such a sulfonating agent as sulfur trioxide or chlorosulfonic acid entails the disadvantage that the resultant sulfonation product has a seriously degraded hue. When products aimed at are obtained by using the alkylene oxide adducts prepared by the conventional technique described above, they are far short of being fully satisfactory because they possess defects as causative factors for degradation and deterioration of quality.
The alkali catalyst such as sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, or a sodium alkoxide to be used in the preparation of an alkylene oxide adduct by the reaction of a hydroxyl group-containing organic compounds with an alkylene oxide is generally purified by neutralization caused by addition of such a neutralizing agent as a mineral acid like sulfuric acid or phosphoric acid or acetic acid. When this neutralization is effected by the use of a conventional neutralizing agents, the neutralizing agent has an effect of causing the produced alkylene oxide adduct to sustain defects as causative factors for emission of odor and degradation of quality by aging. The produced alkylene oxide adduct further suffers from the disadvantage that the adduct, prepared as an aqueous solution, becomes turbid.
An object of this invention, therefore, is to provide a novel stabilized alkylene oxide adduct and a sulfate thereof and a liquid detergent composition containing the adduct or the sulfate.
Another object of this invention is to provide a stabilized alkylene oxide adduct of a hydroxyl group-containing organic compounds and sulfates thereof which emit no odor and experiences very little degradation of quality by aging and a liquid detergent composition containing the adduct or the sulfate.